Blame it on Spring Fever

In an attempt to make up for the long, long silence, here are some pictures. First, the “man pit” that Craig build over the old (dug out hole in the grass) fire pit. It is now an oven and stove. I picked up the brick off the curb, in my church clothes, no less. Dad would be proud.

We have done a little planting. We’ve had several dafodills bloom, and the tulips and iris are ready to bust.

In other garden news, an orange bell pepper, orange mint, dill, lemon balm, dill, and chives are in the ground. The lettuce which over-wintered is going crazy, and some of it tastes like bacon. I don’t know what it is, because it’s from a mixed lettuce seed packet, and process of elimination hasn’t worked it out yet. But it’s bacon-lettuce. Who knew.

In Lucy news, she is fiesty as ever. Wants to watch a movie every day, and rarely gets to. But she likes “writing” scribbles and “reading” books she has memorized, or just looking at the pictures. And she loves the zoo.

In Samantha news, she is getting the last four pesky teeth through. She is running. And she has a nice long list of words now, including Da, dog (which also means cat), doll, bowl (which also seems to mean spoon and basket), Papa, Ma, banana (which is sometimes “ba” and sometimes “nana”), ball, no, diaper, book, door, open, hot…those are all that come to mind at the moment. She has been walking around the house “reading” books out loud over the last couple of days, which is really, really cute.

So that’s the update. Craig’s working a lot, and I spent the day baking. Which reminds me, happy St. Joseph’s Day. Here’s the bread I made:

It’s supposed to look like St. Joseph’s beard. Judge for yourself. I also made egg-free chocolate chip cookies (surprisingly delicious, once you make it past the cookie dough that acts like toasted bread crumbs), vegetable broth, two pans of bread pudding, and dinner today. I wish I could say days like this were the reason I haven’t written in so long, but it’s really been more a combination of distraction and laziness. So hopefully more interesting things will happen soon for me to share with you, and I’ll feel like sharing it. In the mean time, here’s a pic of the girls with their friend Cylis to hold you over.

I rejoice at the return of the “muse.” Here at the Dominican Monastery of St. Jude, of all places, I just noted a cookbook sitting on a table, whose author is a friend of this place. It is called “Gluten Free with Love.” While several recipes do include eggs (sorry, Samantha) the great majority do not (breathe easier, Samantha). Some may require a return to Whole Foods, but I sense you won’t object to that prospect. Stay tuned as I try to find out where to get one. (Maybe here!)